JOHNSTOWN — No longer on the point, Nate Snodgrass is scoring points — and plenty of them for Pitt-Johnstown.

The Butler graduate and UPJ senior basketball player has been moved to the two-guard position this season by the Mountain Cats. He was UPJ’s point guard the past two seasons.

In fact, Snodgrass had been a point guard all of his basketball life.

“I can’t remember ever playing anywhere else,” he admitted.

But UPJ graduated two of its top three scorers from last season and the Mountain Cats were picked to finish eighth in the nine-team PSAC West this season.

Longtime UPJ coach Bob Rukavina inserted sophomore Dale Clancy at point guard, shifted Snodgrass over and the Mountain Cats are off to a 7-3 start, 3-2 in the PSAC.

“When Nate went out with an injury at the start of last season, we put Dale at point guard and he gained some experience there,” Rukavina said. “With our change in personnel this year, I knew I needed both of those guys on the floor.

“We’re hardly turning the ball over at all and our turnover-to-assist ratio has been tremendous. This move is working out well.”

Snodgrass is the lone senior in the Mountain Cats’ starting lineup, which includes two sophomores and a freshman.

“We needed to develop offense and I needed to shoot more,” Snodgrass said. “It’s definitely been an adjustment for me. I have to look for my shot, come off screens, etc.

“I was used to having the ball in my hands all of the time.”

Snodgrass is doing just fine in his new role. He is averaging 17 points per game, ranks third in all of NCAA Division II with a 3-point field goal shooting percentage of 57.4 (27 of 47) and is third in the PSAC with an 88.6 percent success rate at the free throw line (31 of 35).

“His college career has been similar to his high school career,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “We needed Nate to shoot more his senior year and he became a top scorer.

“He’s always been an unselfish player, always a team person. But these (senior) transitions show how talented he is.”

Clancy is averaging 15.6 points and five assists per game for UPJ. Snodgrass is still getting his share of assists, averaging 3.2 per game.

“Nate was so unselfish his first two years with us,” Rukavina said. “He would score 23 points one game and take one shot the next game. I explained to him we needed more consistent scoring from him this year.

“There are days in practice when he doesn’t miss a shot. His shooting percentage is off the charts. In all my years of coaching, I’ve never had a kid shoot this well.”

Snodgrass began prepping for his new role late last year.

“I played some 2-guard toward the end of last season and in a lot of pick-up games to get ready for this,” Snodgrass said. “The move is working out for all of us.

“We reached the PSAC tournament last year and lost our first game. This time, we’d like to go a lot farther.”

Either way, this season will mark the end of Snodgrass’ playing career. He is carrying a 3.92 grade point average as an accounting and business major.

Next year, he hopes to attend graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh and become a graduate assistant coach for the Panthers’ men’s basketball team.

“Nate is an intelligent person and he will be a success at whatever he does,” Clement said. “He’s got a wealth of basketball knowledge and coaching at The D-I level would be a tremendous opportunity for him.

“Whenever he’s ready — and whenever he wants it — he’s got a spot on my staff. We’ve got some good young guards coming through our system who would definitely benefit from Nate’s experiences.”

During recruiting jaunts between his time at Navy and Northern Kentucky, Snodgrass met Pitt coach Jamie Dixon “so at least he knows who I am.”

Clement is friends with Pitt assistant basketball coach Brian Regan.

“With all of that, I’m hoping to pull some strings and get in there,” Snodgrass said.

In the meantime, he’ll keep pulling up for his jumper — and doing damage to the opposition.

“So far, so good,” Snodgrass said. “It’s been fun.”